Queen Elizabeth Military Hospital

Stadium Road, Woolwich, SE18 4QH

Medical dates:

Medical character:

1977 - 1995

Military

The Queen Elizabeth Military Hospital (QEMH) opened in 1977, having taken five years to build. Located in Stadium Road, it was built on land formerly occupied by the Shrapnel Barracks, a Veterinary Hospital and stables for the army horses. It was named after Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother, who opened it officially in 1978 (she had also laid the foundation stone in 1972).

A large hospital with 456 beds in 16 wards, it cared for servicemen and their families, as well as local civilians, whose nearest hospital otherwise was Greenwich District Hospital. The Hospital also treated Chelsea Pensioners and Far East Prisoner of War (FEPOW) survivors. While it had no Accident and Emergency Department, there were several operating theatres and a large Intensive Care Unit, a Burns Unit and medical, psychiatric, oncology and rehabilitation wards.

The paediatric department and wards closed in the 1980s, and children were then referred to the Cambridge Military Hospital in Aldershot.

The Hospital closed in 1995 as part of the government's defence cuts. The Union flag was lowered, the Last Post sounded, and the keys to the Hospital were ceremoniously handed over by the Commanding Officer of the QEMH to the Chief Executive of the Greenwich Healthcare Trust.

Present status (January 2008)

It re-opened in March 2001 as the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, with 521 beds, under the management of the Queen Elizabeth Hospital NHS Trust. Queen Elizabeth II officially opened the Hospital on 11th December 2001.

In 2006 it was largely rebuilt and extended under the government's Private Finance Initiative (PFI) scheme. Some of the original features, such as the main entrance, remain.

UPDATE: January 2016

In April 2009 the Queen Elizabeth Hospital NHS Trust merged with the Queen Mary's Sidcup NHS Trust and the Bromley Hospitals NHS Trust to form the South London Healthcare NHS Trust.

In 2012, as a result of haemorrhaging £1m a week due to its PFI contract over the rebuilding of the Hospital, the Trust was placed in 'special measures' - the first NHS Trust to have an independent administrator appointed. The Trust was subsequently disbanded.